Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of home automation and wireless routers.
Description of the Related Art
WiFi routers:
In recent years, local (e.g. home) wireless WiFi networks have become very popular, These WiFi networks, which typically operate according various IEEE 802.11 standards (e.g. 801.11b, 802.11g, 801.11n, 802.11ac and so on) typically consist of a factory pre-configured wireless WiFi router, which is often sold in a package consisting of the router, instructions, instillation software, and other accessories such as a power supply and cable. This router is often in turn coupled to the internet via a modem (either built into the router, or separate to the router) and typically to a wireless, cable or optical fiber network connection to an internet service provider.
These router packages are intended to allow unskilled users to set up the WiFi system. Typically the instructions inform the unskilled user to first install the software on his or her local computer, connect the router (which may be a combination modem and router) to the local wired or wireless internet connection (often a wired DSL or cable connection, but alternatively may be a wired Ethernet connection, or even a fiber optic connection to the internet or other network of interest). The user will then interact with the program software to implement the various setup instructions.
Prior art on WiFi router configuration methods and devices include Liu, U.S. Pat. No. 7,496,754; Lin, U.S. Pat. No. 7,577,458; Mazur et. al., US patent application publication 2008/0172477; Lam et. al., US patent application 2009/0103547, and Patel et. al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,826,463.
As the popularity of WiFi routers has grown, various types of open source router software, such as DD-WRT, OpenWRT, and Tomato have also become popular, at least among the software enthusiast or “hacker” community. This open source software allows enthusiasts to control access to routers according to various customized rules, as well as implement more sophisticated functions such as policy based routing.
Some WiFi routers have been developed with integrated touch screens. These include the router described by Malasani in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,555,047 and 8,812,827, the entire contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference. This type of router design is presently marketed as the popular “Almond” and “Almond+” router. The Almond+ router, for example, in addition to WiFi transceivers, router circuitry (and functionality), and a touch screen interface, is also equipped with ZigBee™ and/or Z-wave™ transceivers to allow this router to wirelessly interface with various types of ZigBee™ or Z-wave™ equipped home automation devices.
Home Automation
Home automation as a concept has been around for many years, and indeed early concepts from Science Fiction literature date back more than a hundred years. However until recently, with the advent of low cost electronics, such concepts were seldom practical.
In recent years, however interest in home automation has greatly increased, and modern electronics now allows such devices to finally become both practical and cost effective. These home automation systems typically allow various electrical appliances in a building (which may or may not be a home residence) to be automatically controlled, usually with significantly more intelligence and efficiency than would result if the appliances were all independently controlled.
These remotely controllable appliances can, for example, include appliances such as heating and air conditioning, watering, lighting, pet feeding, entertainment devices, mobile robots, security systems, intercoms. Generally any electrically controlled or operated device can be potentially be used in a home automation system. Typically such home automation systems operate by using various environmental sensors to relay environmental status information to a home automation processor. This processor can then use this sensor data, and various algorithms previously stored in memory, to in turn control various electrical appliances.
For example, the previously discussed Almond+ WiFi router is currently marketed by Securifi Corporation. The Almond+, in addition to functioning as a WiFi internet access point and WiFi router, also can act, with the addition of suitable sensors, such as door open sensors, motion sensors, and the like act a smart home security and automation hub. Here the Almond+ can use information from these environmental sensors to, according to various preset algorithms, send control signals, such as ZigBee or Z-wave signals, to various appliances and other devices. When such appliances and other devices are controlled by specific, router based, algorithms and heuristics, these appliances and other devices will be called “router controlled devices”.
Note that in some embodiments, the router may interact with the various appliances and other devices via intermediate internet servers (e.g. via the cloud). In these embodiments, these appliances and other devices may be called “router indirectly controlled devices”. Although often, in the following discussion, the term “router controlled devices” may be understood to also include “router indirectly controlled devices”, this distinction should be understood. In essence, a router indirectly controlled device is connected to the router by a cloud-based link.